Nine Astra Skies

Soon, those letters presented by Yin Mengtian were passed around and read by all the courtiers, who then began to discuss among themselves.

Yin Mengtian was overjoyed. Since Great Emperor Mingwu had made the contents of these letters known to the courtiers, the House of Ye could be saved after all. He glanced at Li Xu and could guess that Master Apothecary Xuanyi still valued Ye Chen quite a lot.

Shortly thereafter, Great Emperor Mingwu announced his verdict. The Second-rank Prince of Donglin, Liu Xun, and the Minister of War, Liu Kan, deserved more than death for what they had done. Yin Mengtian was to be rewarded ten thousand taels of gold for rendering great service and being dutiful to the throne. Since the House of Ye had assisted Yin Mengtian in his service to the throne, Ye Chen's father, Ye Zhantian, would be invested with possession of Donglin County and become the Second-rank Prince of Donglin while the son of the Ye Clan, Ye Chen, was to be rewarded with three thousand taels of gold.

The courtiers were men with extensive experience, so upon hearing the emperor's verdict, they quickly figured out the situation and secretly called him an old fox. It turned out that Great Emperor Mingwu's expressions of annoyance and anger from before had been just a pretense. His only goal was to see how Master Apothecary Xuanyi would respond. If the Master Apothecary refused to defend Ye Chen, then it would have been useless for Yin Mengtian to present those letters as evidence of the Second-rank Prince of Donglin, Liu Xun, and the Minister of War, Liu Kan, plotting a rebellion. On the other hand, if the Master Apothecary was willing to defend Ye Chen, Liu Xun and Liu Kan would have died for nothing even without any evidence of their rebellion. Those letters presented by Yin Mengtian merely provided Great Emperor Mingwu a timely way out of this difficult situation. As the courtiers lifted their gaze and saw the emperor smiling so pleasantly, they guessed that he had most likely received some benefits from Master Apothecary Xuanyi! Of course, the emperor would never let go of such a good opportunity to take advantage of this situation and gain something from the Master Apothecary.

As for why Ye Zhantian was conferred the title of Second-rank Prince out of nowhere, was it not easy to find an explanation for this? The fact that Master Apothecary Xuanyi cared so much about his soon-to-be-apprentice proved that Ye Chen possessed sufficient talent to attract the interest of the Master Apothecary. Naturally, Ye Zhantian had been elevated in status because of his son.

Yin Mengtian could finally put his anxious heart at ease. Seeing as Ye Zhantian was conferred the title of Second-rank Prince, this incident could be considered a blessing in disguise for the House of Ye.

Meanwhile, Qiu Ying had a gloomy expression on his face as he could not believe that this House of Ye was capable of experiencing such a reversal of fortune in the end. This young brat Ye Chen was certainly going to become a source of headache for him in the future.

Ultimately, the royal tribes of different empires were no different from some aristocratic families and large clans. The only distinguishing feature about these royal tribes was that they had vast tracts of land under their control, which allowed them to utilize the large amount of resources available in their territories for their own needs and strengthen their tribes' capabilities. They could also build huge armies to maintain social order within their territories. As for whether an empire would thrive and flourish or decline and fall, it depended on the royal tribe's ability to find some strong and domineering powerhouses to help them keep the rest of the clans in the empire under control.

The Xiwu Empire's Royal Tribe had been around for almost ten thousand years. Throughout this period, none of the clans in the Xiwu Empire's territory had dared to challenge their prestige, none of their neighboring empires had the nerve to offend the Xiwu Empire either. However, things had become very different for the Xiwu Royal Tribe at this point. Otherwise, Great Emperor Mingwu would not rely so much on Master Apothecary Xuanyi for support.

In the study room in the imperial family's inner court.

"Uncle Yin, tell me more about that son of the Ye Clan, Ye Chen. Just how talented is he?" Great Emperor Mingwu asked. After leaving the imperial court, he became much more relaxed. Although Yin Mengtian had a rather low cultivation base, he was one of the few second-rank princes who were loyal to the Xiwu Royal Tribe. The most crucial part was that Yin Mengtian carried the surname Yin, which made him a fellow clansman of Great Emperor Mingwu!

"Understood, Your Majesty. I was also not aware that the son of the Ye Clan, Ye Chen, has a natural gift for the art of alchemy but judging by the attitudes of Master Li and Master Apothecary Xuanyi, one can tell that he must be extraordinarily talented at alchemy. As for his martial art cultivation, he's only seventeen years old but has already entered the rank of Tenth Level combatants."

Even Great Emperor Mingwu had no choice but to attach some importance to a seventeen-year-old Tenth Level combatant. The fact that Ye Chen had managed to reach the Tenth Level at the age of seventeen was proof that he was capable of becoming a Heavenly Venerable One. This was a future Heavenly Venerable Rank powerhouse they were talking about! The emperor drummed his fingers on the table. Previously, he was still somewhat doubtful when he heard others talking about this but since Yin Mengtian had said so too, his uncle's words naturally carried more weight.

"You saw his capabilities with your own eyes?"

"Yes," Yin Mengtian replied affirmatively. "Aside from that, Ye Chen seems to know some mysterious beast taming technique. I saw him taming a Tenth Level Lynx with my own eyes."

Beast taming technique? A strange look flickered in the emperor's eyes. Based on the intelligence he had received, some people saw a few top Tenth Level mystical beasts in Donglin County. These mystical beasts were controlled by someone and were highly intelligent. Thus, Ye Chen naturally came to carry more weight in his heart.

"Does this person value material gain or relationships more?" Great Emperor Mingwu asked calmly.

"Previously, when I got intercepted by Qiu Ying, Liu Kan, and Liu Xun in the Sunken Jade Tower, it was my young friend, Ye Chen, who risked his life to save me. Ye Chen is a person who values his family and friends more than anything else. There's no way I can repay his kindness." Yin Mengtian shook with anger when he mentioned Qiu Ying and the other two men. However, when he spoke about Ye Chen, an earnest expression appeared on his face.

'If he values relationships more, then I use emotions to influence him. If he values material gain more, then I can use material goods to entice him instead,' Great Emperor Mingwu thought. Then, he beamed and replied, "I'd have to trouble Prince Yin to make a trip personally to the Ye Clan and keep in touch with them. Regarding the matter of the Ye Clan killing Liu Xun and Liu Kan, I won't look any further into this case. As for Qiu Ying, I'll surely punish him. Furthermore, I welcome this young friend Ye Chen to come to Capital City at any time. Since I'm not that much older than him, I can exchange opinions and ideas with him about martial arts."

Upon hearing the emperor's words, Yin Mengtian grew excited while his worries vanished all at once as he hurriedly thanked Great Emperor Mingwu for his favor and said, "Your Majesty is wise indeed. I'll convey Your Majesty's message to our young friend Ye Chen."

Yin Mengtian wished he could put on a pair of wings and immediately fly to Donglin County.

Half a month later, the Ye Clan members were going about their busy lives as usual in that secluded valley in the Lianyun Mountains. At that point, the valley looked quite different from the inside as numerous wooden cabins could be seen scattered around. There was an ongoing construction for a mansion on a flat piece of land beside the lake. Meanwhile, the area surrounding the construction site had also been opened and transformed into farmlands where the clan members had begun growing various types of crops.

This place was isolated from the rest of the world and was exceptionally quiet and peaceful.

Ye Chen remained in his cabin to learn how to refine and produce Chi-amassing Pills and had failed more than eight hundred times but still ended up accomplishing nothing. Later on, he read through many more of the notes left behind by the original owner of the armguard and finally gained a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics of the armguard's artifact spirit.

It turned out that the alchemy methods recorded in the Grand Supreme Way of Alchemy were different from the alchemy methods handed down by the armguard's original owner. The methods left behind by the previous owner were ancient alchemy methods that were quite mysterious and profound. Even the methods to refine and produce the most basic Chi-amassing Pill were largely different.

Thus, Ye Chen tweaked his methods slightly and carried out experiments again and again before proceeding to make further adjustments.

Ye Chen was not sure how many times he had failed thereafter.

"I don't believe it. Don't tell me I don't have any talent in alchemy at all? This doesn't make sense." Ye Chen felt rather distressed and puzzled. Since Li Xu thought so highly of him, he should be quite talented at the art of alchemy. Why would he keep failing in all his attempts at alchemy?

What Ye Chen did not know was that practicing alchemy in the space in the armguard was different from practicing alchemy with a normal refining furnace from the outside world. He could only use ancient alchemy methods to refine and produce pills in the space within the armguard. If he used ordinary alchemy methods, he would fail for sure!

Ye Chen became somewhat depressed after another round of failure. Could it be that there was some trick to it that he had not managed to grasp? Was it not possible for him to master the art of alchemy without a teacher?